This might be a bit off-topic, but this post reminded me of the Mitch Hedberg joke.

-I make myself a bowl of instant oatmeal, and then I don't do anything for an hour. Why do I need the instant oatmeal? I could get the regular oatmeal and feel productive.

http://red-icculus.com

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Generally, when it says "Make 1-inch slit in film cover" I either poke a smallish hole in the cover with a knife (no ruler or Doctoral Degree in higher math required--sometimes it's 3/4-inch long, sometimes it's a bit more than that), or (if I've brought my lunch to work and don't have a knife with me) lift the corner of the film cover. It usually works fine. If you want to be anal-retentive about it, the first knuckle of an average person's thumb is about an inch long--use that for reference. Ignoring this particular part of the directions is usually okay--the steam doesn't care how big its escape-hatch is, just that it HAS an escape-hatch!
On the other hand, the directions are on the box for a reason--because some ingredients take longer to cook than others. You can't "assume" that all hot breakfast cereals will cook in 4 minutes when the hot breakfast cereals all have different ingredients. Also, overcooked food tastes nasty (and explodes in your microwave, forcing you to do clean-up duty instead of eating your lunch), and undercooked food is dangerous and can make you sick. They put the directions on the box for the safety of the person eating the food--they don't want someone undercooking a chicken dish and then suing because they got food poisoning. How dumb is it when the lawyer asks "Well did you cook the food as directed" and you say "Well, um, no, cause I assumed the chicken dish would cook in the same amount of time as the salisbury-steak dish, despite the fact that the directions clearly state to cook the chicken a full minute longer than the steak."?? Now you're sick and you feel dumb on top of it.
Besides, "assuming" anything is just silly. As my dad says "When you assume, you make an ASS out of U and ME." This is why I ALWAYS read the directions on the box--so I don't end up looking like a fool complaining to the entire planet that I overcooked my cereal and it exploded, when I could have just read the directions on the package and gotten perfectly-cooked food. Um, duh!

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Yes

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I usually read the directions, but I will adapt them for various reasons. Usually it's either if the frozen food has been in my lunchbag all day and is already slightly defrosted (but nearly always still cold) I will give it less time in the microwave. Or if it's something I've bought many times before- like the Amy's mac and cheese or cheese enchiladas.... and I know how they cook in my specific microwave.

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I eat Cream of Wheat every morning, and unlike most people I do microwave it. 1 and a half minutes, than whip it, than you have to check it about every 20 seconds or it will make a mess. Never get it right on the stove, guess I've been doing it the lazyway too long:)

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Microwave food is all precooked and flash frozen so it can't be "undercooked" in a dangerous manner. Eating frozen or cold pre-cooked chicken is not harmful. It is just not very appetizing to bite into a frozen piece of chicken.

You'd be safer eating "undercooked" (still cold or frozen) pre-cooked, flash frozen chicken than that leftover drumstick from KFC that's been sitting on the cabinet for a few hours and collecting bacteria.

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Yes. I always read the direction before I microwave. Unless something needs to be microwaved for more than 5 minutes, I will wait and keep an eye on it throughout the process. Every microwave is different. For example, the same type of popcorn will have different cooking times in different microwaves +/- 1.5 minutes.

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